Free Republic

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGG) faked an entire video claiming to show American warships transiting disputed waters in the Persian Gulf by piecing together old scraps of unrelated footage, French analysis confirms. The original video, published by the IRGC on April 28, allegedly showed the flight deck of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier and was used to advance the claim that Iran was spying on the American military. It went public just weeks after Washington placed the IRGC on its list of terrorist organisations. As Breitbart News reported, Iran’s Tasnim news agency claimed a camera-equipped Iran Revolutionary Guards’ spy drone...

Iran's state TV has broadcast footage purporting to show a close encounter between the Revolutionary Guard's navy and the USS Theodore Roosevelt. The incident purportedly happened in the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, the passageway for nearly a third of all oil traded by sea. Saturday's footage is likely meant as a show of strength amid new U.S. sanctions on Iran and the Trump administration plans to bring Iranian oil exports down to zero. In the video, Guard speedboats are seen closing in on the U.S. carrier. Iranian sailors then warn the Americans over radio communication to...

Iran says they have video shot by an unmanned drone showing a US aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf. (Hat tip: LGF readers.) Iran’s Arabic language television station broadcast footage it claimed showed a US aircraft carrier cruising in Gulf waters it said was taken by an unmanned Iranian drone. The brief minute-long film, which was shown on Al-Alam television’s evening news bulletin, showed wobbly aerial footage of an aircraft carrier stacked with war planes as it sailed. The television’s anchor said the film, the property of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard, showed a vessel from “the US fleet in the...

Intelligence showing that Iran is likely moving short-range ballistic missiles aboard boats in the Persian Gulf was one of the critical reasons the US decided to move an aircraft carrier strike group and B-52 bombers into the region, several US officials with direct knowledge of the situation told CNN on Tuesday. The concerns over the movement of the missiles was one of multiple threads of intelligence from various sources that led the US to believe Iran had a capability and intention to launch strikes against US targets, the report said. US Central Command spokesperson Capt. Bill Urban said they had...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Iran said Wednesday it will look into the disappearance of an American man in Iran, a State Department spokesman said. The missing man has been identified as a former FBI agent. Iran replied to a U.S. request for information or help, and asked for additional details about the missing man's travel itinerary, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said. The response came through Swiss intermediaries in Iran. ``We'll see if they come up with anything, but they certainly didn't have any specific information,'' about the man, Casey said. The United States and Iran have no diplomatic relations, but...

The Iranian navy launched a three-day naval exercise on Friday in the Persian Gulf that encompasses a wide expanse of ocean including the Strait of Hormuz and stretches to the Sea of Oman and northern portions of the Indian Ocean, according to state media reports. Some news reports claim that the drills may go on for a week or more, but all of them are emphasizing the “large-scale” nature of the exercises which includes showcasing the Iranian navy’s newest and alleged domestically-produced cruise missile submarine Fatah and its newest Sahand destroyer. The Fatah, or “Conqueror,” was celebrated during an event...

The timing of the exercise is unusual, as it appears to be similar in scale and nature to a drill that ordinarily happens later in the autumn. It comes just days before the U.S. reimposes sanctions on Tehran after its withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said several dozen boats were out training early Thursday morning. The vessels are mostly small attack boats, and there have been no interactions with U.S. ships in the area, the official added, according to AFP. In a statement, Captain Bill Urban, the military's Central Command spokesman, said...

Washington (CNN)Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard forces are expected to begin a major exercise in the Persian Gulf as soon as within the next 48 hours that could be aimed at demonstrating their ability to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, according to two US officials directly familiar with the latest US assessment of IRGC troop movements. "We are aware of the increase in Iranian naval operations within the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman. We are monitoring it closely, and will continue to work with our partners to ensure freedom of navigation and free flow of commerce...

<p>If someone had told me a few months ago that I’d be writing a piece for Front Page on this theme, I would’ve dismissed him as a lunatic. After all, then I was supporting the positions expected from those on the so-called antiwar right. I was harshly critical of Israeli defense initiatives, more willing to talk up for Noam Chomsky than the sitting President, and insistent upon baiting “neo-conservative” Michael Ledeen of National Review into admitting that he sought to see the regime in Tehran overthrown by any means necessary, including US Military involvement.</p>

An Iranian drone nearly collided with a U.S. Navy F-18 Super Hornet while the American jet was in a holding pattern, a U.S. defense official told Fox News on Tuesday. The jet was about to land aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, which recently arrived in the Persian Gulf, according to the report. The incident marked the first time an Iranian drone has “interrupted a flight pattern,” the official told Fox News. The F-18 “maneuvered to avoid collision,” said the official, who described the unarmed Iranian drone as a Qom-1, and added that the encounter was “unsafe and unprofessional…and dangerous.”...

A US Navy ship fired warning shots at an Iranian patrol boat that came within 150 yards of it in the Persian Gulf. The Iranian boat is believed to have been operated by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to a defense official familiar with details of the incident. The officials said the Iranian boat approached and came within 150 yards of the USS Thunderbolt, a US Navy patrol ship. The USS Thunderbolt was accompanied by the USS Vella Gulf, which is a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser, and two other US Coast guard vessels at the time. The Iranians did...

A U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer fired a warning flare toward an Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessel coming near it in the Persian Gulf, an American official said on Wednesday, the latest tense naval encounter between the two countries. The incident happened Monday as the vessel attempted to draw closer to the USS Mahan despite the destroyer trying to turn away from it, said Lt. Ian McConnaughey, a spokesman for the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet.

A U.S. Navy surveillance ship was harassed by an Iranian fast attack craft while entering the Persian Gulf on Saturday, a defense official confirmed to USNI News on Monday. USNS Invincible (T-AGM-24) was transiting the Strait of Hormuz in the early morning on March 4 with three other coalition ships when the ships were approached by several Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy fast attack craft, the official told USNI News. One of the IRGCN craft maneuvered 600 yards in front of the 2,300-ton Invincible and “went dead in the water,” the official said.

In a deployment not seen in seven years, three Chinese warships including a guided-missile destroyer warship embarked on a tour of Gulf Arab states for the first time since 2010 in what al Arabiya has called Beijing's "desire to play a bigger role on the global stage."The three Chinese vessels arrived in Qatar’s capital Doha on Saturday following a visit to the Saudi port city of Jeddah, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. While China’s navy regularly tours the world and its ships patrol off the coasts of Yemen and Somalia as part of international anti-piracy operations, such visits to...

The United States on Wednesday began notifying lawmakers that it has approved $7 billion in long-stalled sales of Boeing Co (BA.N) fighter jets to Kuwait and Qatar, and more than $1 billion in Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) jets to Bahrain, sources familiar with the decision said. The sales had been pending for more than two years amid concerns raised by Israel, Washington's closest Middle East ally, that arms sold to Gulf Arab states could be used against it, and criticism of Qatar for alleged ties to armed Islamist groups. U.S. officials began notifying lawmakers informally about the sale of 36...

Iran threatened to shoot down two US Navy surveillance aircraft flying close to Iranian territory in the Persian Gulf over the weekend, the latest in a series of recent provocations between Iran and the US military in the region, three US defense officials with knowledge of the incident told Fox News. On Sept. 10, a Navy P-8 Poseidon with a crew of nine and an EP-3 Eries with a crew of roughly 24, were flying a reconnaissance mission 13 miles off the coast of Iran, in the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman, according to officials. Iran’s territorial waters—like...

A U.S. Navy patrol coastal ship was harassed by seven Iranian vessels on Sunday and narrowly avoided colliding with one, in the latest in a string of incidents in the Persian Gulf. Seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) fast in-shore attack craft (FIAC) approached USS Firebolt (PC-10) while it was operating in international waters in the central Persian Gulf on Sept. 4, a defense official told USNI News. Three of the FIACs maneuvered close to Firebolt, mirroring the ship’s course and speed at a distance of about 500 yards for about eight minutes before leaving. Another FIAC then sped...

Yesterday, we reported that four Iranian ships carried out a "high speed intercept" of a US destroyer, the USS Nitze, in the Strait of Hormuz, an incident that the official dubbed "unsafe and unprofessional", cited by Reuters. The four vessels belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps "harassed" a U.S. destroyer on Tuesday by carrying out a "high speed intercept" in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz, a U.S. Defense official said on Wednesday. Moments ago, CNN reported that in a separate incident, A US Navy ship fired three warning shots after a "harassing" Iranian fast-attack craft approached and...

Weak leadership, poor judgment, a lack of “warfighting toughness” and a litany of errors led to the embarrassing capture and detention by Iran of 10 U.S. sailors in the Persian Gulf in January, according to a Navy investigation released Thursday. Six officers and three enlisted sailors have been disciplined or face disciplinary action. The trouble began even before the sailors left port in Kuwait aboard two 50-foot boats on a short-notice, 300-mile journey to Bahrain. They were delayed, unprepared, poorly supervised and ill-suited for the mission, the report said. …

Royal Navy's most advanced destroyers break down in the Gulf because the water is too WARM, bungling defence chiefs admit Britain's £1billion a piece Type-45 Destroyer ships break down in warm water and are being retrofitted with diesel generators, defence chiefs have admitted. Complicated Rolls Royce gas turbine engines work in the cold water around Britain but the vessels have been left adrift in the Gulf on several occasions because of failures. The problem first became apparent when HMS Daring lost all power in the mid-Atlantic in 2010 and had to repaired in Canada. The ship needed fixing again in...